3 February, 2014

A Postdoctoral Research Assistant post has arisen at the University of Warwick for the ‘Facilitating Access to Latin inscriptions in Britain’s Oldest Public Museum through Scholarship and Technology’ project, which explores the place of Latin literacy in Britain, the role of inscriptions in writing Roman social history, and the history of the collection and changing attitudes to epigraphy from 1683 to the modern day. Of equal importance is its objective to explore ways in which Latin inscriptions can be used to educate the general public, visitors, and children about the Roman world, using the Ashmolean as a case-study.

The job is 50%FTE, fixed Term Contract for 13 months, based at the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents/Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

You will work on the AHRC funded project, Facilitating Access to Latin inscriptions in Britain’s Oldest Public Museum through Scholarship and Technology.

You will create an Epidoc corpus of the Latin inscriptions in the Ashmolean Museum, based upon research carried out by the project’s PI, customizing EpiDoc XSL stylesheets. You will create digital images of the collection of Latin inscriptions in the Ashmolean: to carry out digital photography and Reflectance Transformation Imaging of Latin inscriptions in the Ashmolean Museum; and to integrate these images into the online corpus. You will explore using EpiDoc tools to create resources for the visually impaired. You will help maintain the project’s website. You will assist in in recording and editing project vodcasts.

You will have a PhD or equivalent in a relevant area. You will have a good knowledge of Latin, particularly epigraphy. You will have experience in XML; EpiDoc conversion tools (Crosswalker) and EpiDoc XSL stylesheets. Experience in Reflectance Transformation Imaging and website editing is desirable.

13 January, 2014

We invite applications for a 4-day training workshop on digital editing of epigraphic and papyrological texts, to be held in the Institute of Classical Studies, London, April 28-May 1, 2014. The workshop will be taught by Gabriel Bodard (KCL), Simona Stoyanova (Leipzig) and Charlotte Tupman (KCL). There will be no charge for the teaching, but participants will have to arrange their own travel and accommodation.

No technical skills are required, but a working knowledge of Greek or Latin, epigraphy or papyrology and the Leiden Conventions will be assumed. The workshop is open to participants of all levels, from graduate students to professors or professionals.

To apply for a place on this workshop please email charlotte.tupman@kcl.ac.uk with a brief description of your reason for interest and summarising your relevant skills and background, by Friday, February 21st, 2014.

6 January, 2014

The application deadline for the 5th International Summer Course in Greek and Latin Epigraphy, organised by The Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies at The Ohio State University, is1 February 2014. Full information at their website.

It seems clear that, in the Greek-speaking regions of the Roman Empire, Hellenistic models (civic, military or institutional) exercised considerable influence over “Italic” colonial projects. Within this field, relations between military colonists and indigenous peoples demand special attention, considering the degree of social, cultural, economic, political and geopolitical transformation brought about by the installation of certain groups upon those lands as a result of the will of the great power(s) that ruled over them.

Some questions, however, are rarely asked: e.g. how did classical colonization influence the homonymous phenomenon from the Hellenistic Age (and, further on, how many aspects of the Hellenistic colonization were kept alive by the Roman founders of cities? Also, since we know now that many “native” cities became poleis by the IInd century B.C. How did this happen exactly ? What was the metamorphosis of the native city when turning into a polis ? Was it simply a façade ? How deep – and peaceful – were the required changes ?

As for the Roman colonization, modern scholars have often described Roman colonies as vectors of Romanization inserted in alien lands, writing that these communities must have functioned as images of a “small Rome.” While the existence of Latin-speaking colonists ruled by a favorable juridical system such as the Ius Italicum cannot be denied, such a reductionist model can no longer be accepted without qualification, especially in the context of the Greek-speaking provinces of the Roman East. The regions of the Eastern Mediterranean world saw the coming of a number of groups of Roman colonists and thus their cultural climate, their agrarian structures and their geopolitical environment changed. The aim of this panel is to explore new research paths based on broader studies over time and space.

From this perspective, the papers proposed for this panel may address the following issues:

– the colonial geopolitics promoted by the States;

– the cultural and social origins of the groups being displaced by the State and established elsewhere as colonists;

– the social, economic, cultural and military consequences of the colonization over the local populations (e.g. – the loss of agricultural land, the displacement towards desert or mountainous areas, revolts, brigandage, piracy, the way of joining the armies of the States, the way of becoming mercenaries, the strengthening of the indigenous cultural identities);

– evidences of peaceful coexistence, voluntary or not, as seen through economic, cultural or social aspects (e.g. – where did the colonists get their wives? Did the colonists learn the language of the indigenous people or vice-versa)?

– (dis)continuities in the colonial practices of the Hellenistic and Roman Ages;

– documentary methodologies allowing the deepening of knowledge on the indigenous cultures in the colonial context and the phenomena of acculturation;

– the historical sociology of the colonial territories.

For a full abstract of the panel in both English and French, please see Call for papers.

8 February, 2013

A reminder that we are inviting applications for a training event in digital encoding of epigraphy and papyrology at the Institute for Classical Studies, London, April 22-5, 2013 (see full announcement here). Thanks to the generosity of the British Epigraphy Society and Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, we now have a limited number of bursaries available to assist students with attending this workshop.

If you would like to apply for financial support in attending the EpiDoc workshop, please note in your application email that you would like to be considered for a bursary, approximately how much you expect the trip to cost you, and what other sources of funding you have. If you have already applied for the training, please just send an additional email asking to be considered, and we’ll add a note to this effect to your application. A decision will be made shortly after the closing date on March 1st.

11 January, 2013

We invite applications for a 4-day training workshop on digital text-markup for epigraphic and papyrological editing, to be held in the Institute for Classical Studies, London, with support from the British Epigraphy Society and Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. The workshop will be taught by Gabriel Bodard (KCL), James Cowey (Heidelberg), Simona Stoyanova (KCL) and Charlotte Tupman (KCL). There will be no charge for the teaching, but participants will have to arrange their own travel and accommodation.

No technical skills are required to apply, but a working knowledge of Greek or Latin, epigraphy or papyrology and the Leiden Conventions will be assumed. The workshop is open to participants of all levels, from graduate students to professors or professionals.

To apply for a place on this workshop please email gabriel.bodard@kcl.ac.uk with a brief description of your reason for interest and summarising your relevant skills and background, by Friday March 1st, 2013.

This workshop is an introduction to the use of EpiDoc, an XML schema for the encoding and publication of inscriptions, papyri and other documentary Classical texts. Participants will study the use of EpiDoc markup to record the distinctions expressed by the Leiden Conventions and traditional critical editions, and some of the issues in translating between EpiDoc and the major epigraphic and papyrological databases. They will also be given hands-on experience in the use of the Papyrological Editor tool implemented by the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, which facilitates the authoring EpiDoc XML via a ‘tags-free’ interface.

The course is targeted at scholars of epigraphy and papyrology (from advanced graduate students to professors) with an interest and willingness to learn some of the hands-on technical aspects necessary to run a digital project. Knowledge of Greek and/or Latin, the Leiden Conventions and the distinctions expressed by them, and the kinds of data that need to be recorded by philologists and ancient historians, will be assumed. No particular technical expertise is required.

Places on the EpiDoc training week are limited so if you are interested in attending the workshop or have any questions, please contact charlotte.tupman@kcl.ac.uk and gabriel.bodard@kcl.ac.uk as soon as possible with a brief statement of qualifications and interest.

15 April, 2011

A Practical Epigraphy Workshop is taking place for those who are interested in developing hands-on skills in working with epigraphic material. The workshop is aimed at graduate students, but other interested parties are welcome to apply, whether or not they have previous experience. With expert tuition, participants will learn the practical aspects of how to record and study inscriptions. The programme will include the making of squeezes; photographing and measuring inscribed stones; and the production of transcriptions, translations and commentaries. Space on this workshop is limited by the size of the available study area to eight places, and on this occasion we shall be offering Roman epigraphy only. Instructors will include Roger Tomlin and Charlotte Tupman.

Course fees will be in the region of £70 – £90 but, as in previous years, we hope to be able to offer a number of generous bursaries. Participants on the course will stay in Bed & Breakfast accommodation in Corbridge (we will book this for you but regret that the cost is not included in the course fee).

If you wish to apply for a place on this course, or for further details, please contact Charlotte Tupman by e-mail as soon as possible: charlotte.tupman@kcl.ac.uk

Students wishing to apply for one of the bursaries should contact the
Secretary by e-mail (u.roth@ed.ac.uk) by November 1st with the
following information:

1. Name and contact details
2. Programme of study/research
3. A brief description (max. 200 words) of how attendance at the
meeting would benefit their studies/research
4. The name, position and e-mail address of one academic referee who
is happy to be contacted by BES
5. An estimate of expenses

1 October, 2010

The Autumn Colloquium of the British Epigraphy Society has been organised by Dr. Michael Scott, and will be held at The Old Library, Darwin College, Silver Street, Cambridge, CB3 9EU.

Many of the inscriptions from the Greek and Roman worlds are related to the processes of constructing those worlds: the naming of benefactors, awarding of contracts, listing construction work still to be done, laying out of plans, etc. Such inscriptions play a crucial role not just in revealing the processes of ancient building and the socio-economic worlds of those involved in building them, but also in the formation of the perception and meaning of the structures themselves, as well as of the politics and economics that surrounded them at the time of their construction, repair and eventual decay.

The British Epigraphy Society website contains the full programme along with details of how to register.

19 August, 2010

The British School at AthensPost Graduate Training Course in Greek Epigraphy
26th June – 10th July 2011
Athens

Whether publishing new inscriptions, reinterpreting old ones, or critically analysing editions, this course provides training for historians, archaeologists and textual scholars alike in the discipline of reading and interpreting epigraphic evidence. Students will be guided through the process of producing editions of inscriptions, gaining practical first hand experience with the stones as well as instruction in editorial and bibliographic skills. Guest lectures on historical and thematic subjects will explore the ways in which epigraphic evidence can inform a wide range of Classical subjects. The course will be taught at the BSA and will utilise the most significant epigraphic collections around Athens, where students will be assigned a stone from which they will create a textual edition. The importance of seeing inscriptions within their archaeological and topographical contexts will be explored during site visits around Athens, Attica, and Delphi. Some prior knowledge of Greek is essential, although students with only elementary skills are advised that reading inscriptions is a very good way to advance in the language!

The course fee of £700 includes accommodation in shared rooms at the BSA, where self catering facilities are available, as well as 24 hour access to the superb library, entry to all sites and museums, and BSA membership for one month. Free membership for the remainder of the session will be offered to students wishing to remain at the BSA after the course to continue their research. Travel to and from Greece is the sole responsibility of the course participant.

The course is limited to 12 places, and open to students of any university pursuing Masters or Post-graduate degrees. Students are recommended to apply to their universities for financial support; a number of BSA-administered bursaries are available for students who would otherwise be unable to attend.

Further information can be obtained from the BSA website. Completed application forms and an academic reference letter should be emailed to the Assistant Director (assistant.director@bsa.ac.uk) no later than January 14th 2011.

In the first paper of the day, Graham Oliver applied the theme of the colloquium (formality and informality in epigraphy) to a selection of inscribed materials ranging from the Archaic to the Imperial period. Noting that the method of categorising inscriptions in traditional corpora tends to prevent us from fully examining the potentially complex nature of those inscriptions, Oliver introduced three topics through which we might begin to interpret the subject of formal and informal epigraphy: authority, institutions and location; the formalities of formal and informal epigraphy; and genre.

21 February, 2010

The Fundación Uncastillo and UNED Tudela have announced the first colloquium on the archaeology and ancient history of Los Bañales: ‘Las Cupae Hispanas: Origen, Difusión, Uso, Tipologia’, which will be held from 16-18 April 2010 at Uncastillo (Zaragoza).

This colloquium investigates the phenomenon of the cupae, which are roughly semi-cylindrical or barrel-shaped tomb monuments found at various sites across the Iberian Peninsula from the first to the third centuries A.D. Many are inscribed with funerary texts in Latin. Scholars from many areas of the Peninsula as well as elsewhere in Europe are gathering for the three-day colloquium at Uncastillo to discuss a number of questions relating to these monuments: their origins, which remain a source of contention; their diffusion across the Peninsula; their practical and symbolic uses by members of different social groups; and their typology, which has thus far proved difficult to establish. This is the first conference to be devoted to this enigmatic type of funerary monument.

Osborne began his paper by explaining that his main focus would be upon examining structural points in the genre of the letter. A letter is a composition of a very strong generic type: whatever the context of the letter, its writer is bound by conventions that lead to what is written being framed in a particular way, which in turn defines the relationship between the letter-writer and the recipient. Letters must not only be seen in the context of other letters; rather, they must be viewed in the context of other methods of transmitting information. In this way we can examine how convention influenced content.(more…)

‘Inscriptions, Landscape, and the Built Environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and Iran in Late Antiquity’ (Oxford, November 2009)

Matthew Canepa, Oxford, November 21

In this paper, Professor Canepa demonstrated how the rulers of the Sassanian Empire used monumental sculpture and inscriptions to create and emphasise their cultural and racial decent from the Achaemenids, as well as simultaneously interacting with and differentiating themselves from their more recent predecessors, the kings of the Hellenistic Seleucid empire. A crucial feature of this interaction and hence of Canepa’s study was the way in which rock reliefs and other inscriptions interact with and become part of the landscape or building on which they are placed; this interaction can be a key part of their significance.